1978 in Rhodesia

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← 1977 1976 1975 1978 in Rhodesia → 1979 1980 1981
Decades:	1960s 1970s
See also:	Other events of 1978 Timeline of Rhodesian history

The following lists events that happened during 1978 in Rhodesia .

Incumbents

• President:
  • until 31 August: John Wrathall ^{[1] [2]}
  • 31 August-1 November: Henry Everard ^[3]
  • starting 1 November: Jack William Pithey ^[4]
• Prime Minister: Ian Smith ^[5]

Events

January

• 3 January - Leopard Rock Hotel in the Vumba Mountains is damaged after a guerilla rocket attack.

March

• 3 March - The Salisbury Agreement what later became known as the Internal Settlement, aimed at leading to black majority rule signed by Prime Minister Ian Smith, UANC president Bishop Abel Muzorewa, ZUPO president Senator Chief Jeremiah Chirau, and ANC (Sithole) president the Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole.
• 14 March - United Nations Security Council Resolution 423 condemned the Rhodesian Internal Settlement ^[6]
• 21 March - Transitional Government aimed at leading to black majority rule formally established as part of the Salisbury Agreement, Internal Settlement.

April

• 14 April - Nine black ministers are sworn in to serve on the Ministerial Council of the Transitional Government.

May

• 19 May - Two Swiss Red Cross workers and their African assistant are killed by fighters near the Mozambique border.

June

• 23 June - In the Vumba massacre, 12 whites were murdered. 8 British missionaries (3 men and 5 women) and 4 of their children were bayonetted to death at Emmanuel Mission School at Vumba by guerillas. The dead belonged to the Elim Pentecostal Church. ^[7]
• 24 June - Rhodesia beat Western Transvaal 41-9 in a Currie Cup match played at Hartsfield Rugby Ground, Bulawayo.
• 28 June - Three Zimbabwe African People's Union fighters kill two German missionaries.

August

• 15 August - The Rhodesia Herald was renamed The Herald.

September

• 3 September - Air Rhodesia Flight 825 was shot down by guerillas and the survivors were shot on the ground, killing 48.

Deaths

• 17 June - Archie Dunaway, an American Baptist evangelist, is stabbed to death by ZAPU fighters at the Sanyati Mission Hospital, 217 km west of Salisbury
• 28 June - Clifford Dupont, 1st President of Rhodesia dies aged 72.

References

1. John Wrathall, Appointed To Office In 1976 as Independent Rhodesia's 2nd President, Toledo Blade , 31 August 1978
2. The Great Betrayal: The Memoirs of Ian Douglas Smith, Ian Douglas Smith, Blake Publishing Limited, 1997, page 266
3. Heads of State and Government, John V. Da Graça, Springer, 1985, page 265
4. Report of the Commission Appointed to Divide Rhodesia into Twenty-three Constituencies, 1978, Hector Norman Macdonald Govt. printer, 1978, page 1
5. "Colonial administrators and post-independence leaders in Zimbabwe (1923–2000)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford: Oxford University Press . Retrieved 11 January 2014.
6. s:United Nations Security Council Resolution 423
7. Kaufman, Michael T. (25 June 1978). "12 White Teachers and Children Killed by Guerrillas in Rhodesia". The New York Times . Retrieved 3 February 2023.